CHERUB: NIGHTHAWK
by millett-with-pen
Summary: A new mission for James Adams...General plot: missing, murdered children, another terrible organisation...WARNING! Spoiler...set after The Fall.
1. Opportunities

James strode down the narrow corridor which led towards his room on the left and Jenny's on the right. He'd walked across that bit of carpet so many times before now, it was starting to feel a little like home.

He open the wooden door which lead into his small room. The walls were bare apart from a few pictures and posters he had stuck up to decorate them a bit. His bed was in the middle of the floor. It was small, with a hard mattress and an equally hard pillow. The only thing comfy about his bed was his cover. He would wrap himself in it to keep warm during the bitterly cold nights. Next to his bed was a desk where he kept his alarm clock. He walked across the stale green carpet and slide his school bag next to it. And finally, to finish of the dullness of the room, in the corner was a large cupboard with a mirror attached to the door. James sulked over to it and stared at himself. He was starting to change quite a lot. He had grown about 2 inches since he had arrived 3 months ago, his hair was starting to get a little too long, and…

…OH MY GOD!

"Is that a spot on my chin!" He gasped, as he stepped nearer the mirror to inspect it closely. After a few seconds of observation, he came to the conclusion that its was just a scratch.  
"Phew...That was a very close one. I've been a teen for 3 years and still no spots. I must be immune or something."  
He laughed quietly to himself, but he had to get on with the mission. He had a job to do, and John was counting on him.

BEEP BEEP…BEEP BEEP

James turned around to see his mobile light up and start to vibrate. He had a text. He picked up his phone and flopped down onto his bed as he opened up the message. It was from Dana, his new girlfriend.

HEYA GORGOUS  
NOT HERD FRM U IN A WHILE  
MISSIN U SOO MUCH…WHEN U COMIN HOME?  
THERES A MASSIVE KISS WAITIN 4 U WEN U GET BACK  
LUV U…DANA XXX

James grinned as he read the message, it was really nice to be missed, and Dana was really cool too, but he didn't have time to text her back just then. So, instead, he made a mental note to do it later. He slid the mobile into his jean pocket and headed for the door.

James stepped out into the corridor and casually looked around as he crept towards Jenny's bedroom door.  
"Hello, anyone in here?" He asked as he knocked on Jenny's door. After waiting a few seconds, he heard what he wanted to hear. Silence. So, he pushed open the door a crack and peered inside. Empty. Wow, this was going rather well up to now. He glanced once more down the corridor to check no-one was lurking about, and stepped inside the room.

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_  
3 months earlier, John Jones had offered James a place on a mission. This would be the first mission for James after the Aerocity disaster in Russia. And of course, because he hadn't had one in 5 months, he accepted it straight away._

"So, what's this mission all about then?" James asked John as he sat down on the red sofa next to the wall, in the mission preparation room.

"I'll give you just a general idea, there's more information in the briefing," he replied as he handed James a thick plastic folder, full to bursting with sheets of paper and photographs.

"Well, long story short, a woman called Helen Hughes is believed to be responsible for a series of children going missing. Most of them have disappeared while they were out with friends during the evening, but some went missing on the way home from school…they never turned up at home. We think she is running some sort of criminal organisation, but we're not quite sure what it is at the moment. But, what we do know is that she needs the children for it to work smoothly. But, kid-napping isn't the only serious crime going on here. It gets worse. Some of the children who have been reported missing have been found, but dead. This must be a security reason, but 7 kids have been brutally murdered by this organisation. We can't let any more die. So this is where you come in. As you have already accepted, you will be travelling out to the less popular part of Blackpool sometime during the next month. You will be put into Blackpool Children's Corner (BCC), as there is a girl there who's friend has been abducted. So, I need you to study that briefing and know you background story back-to-front." He took a deep breath as he tapped the huge folder. "You still absolutely sure you want to go ahead with this mission?"

"John…" James grinned cheekily, "…You know me better than any other Mission Controller at CHERUB. I've never turned a mission down yet, and I'm definitely not going to start now. And after 5 months of no missions, it's like music to my ears. You can count me in for sure."

He paused for a second to get his breath back, and thought about all of the things John had told him about his mission.

"You know what, I can't believe this Heather person. Who could kid-nap a bunch of kids and then kill them!? That's just…sick. I mean, I've been on some really hard missions, like, for example, that one with KNG and the drugs and stuff, and also that one when I got put in Arizona Max. But this one just tops them all. Well, apart from the Aerocity one."

"OK, first of all, it's Helen. Second, yes, I know it's terrible. This mission may not be hard physically, but mentally and emotionally, it will be quite tough. The nerve of some people and the things they do is just…wrong. And third, I know you're still saw about the Aerocity disaster, but I'm sure you'll get over it soon."

"Yeah, I know. It's just hard you know. But, I'm sure getting back out there and starting a new mission will probably take my mind off it," he sighed, "I can't wait to go."  



	2. Briefing

**CLASSIFIED MISSION BRIEFING FOR JAMES ADAMS**

**THIS DOCUMENT IS PROTECTED WITH A RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION TAG.**

**ANY ATTEMPT TO REMOVE IT FROM THE MISSION PREPARATION BUILDING WILL SET OF AN ALARM**

**DO NOT PHOTOCOPY OR MAKE NOTES**

**PAST**

Helen Hughes was born on the 27th October 1981 in Blackpool. She was very good as a child, always getting good grades at school and she had many friends to keep her occupied.

Her mother and father, Carl and Samantha, fell in love at college and shortly got engaged. But the problem was, that both of their parents completely disagreed with their relationship, and said,

"It will never work. You have only just met…you hardly know each other. It'll all end in tears."

But they disobeyed their orders not to get married, which resulted in them running away. The marriage only lasted about a year. Samantha left Carl as soon as Helen was born. The break-up left Helen's dad with severe depression, and he started to take part in criminal activities. After a few years, he set up his own criminal organisation. This was taking children of the streets and using them for something. We are not sure what he needs the children for at this point.

Helen became an orphan at the age of 13 when he father died of a heart attack. She was put into Blackpool Children's Corner and needed many counselling sessions to overcome what she had been through with her father. Helen started to rebel at school and became a lone wolf at school; most children were terrified of her. Her grades took a turn for the worst and she started to ditch lessons.

She took over her father's organisation at the age of 19. She is now on MI5's Most Wanted list, as her group has been kept very secretive, and only Helen's personal bodyguards and henchmen, and the children who have been kid-napped know what is going on.  
**  
THE CHERUB MISSION**  
James Adams will be put into Blackpool Children's Corner and will be sharing a dorm with Jenny Ferner. Jenny's best friend, Kathryn Torrent, was kid-napped a few weeks ago during the evening. Jenny and Kathryn told their social worker, Karen McCloud, that they were going for a walk around the local park. Half an hour later, a local resident reported to the police that they heard screaming coming from the park, and then saw Jenny sprinting away crying. Karen took her to the hospital as soon as she returned to BCC as she had been punched in the face and had resulted in a broken nose.

The where-abouts of Kathryn is unknown, and Jenny refuses to talk about what happened. James will have to get close to Jenny and try to find out exactly what happened. If we can locate Kathryn, we should be able to find out what Helen's organisation is doing.

**NOTE: THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVED THIS MISSION BRIEFING, ON CONDITION THAT ALL AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:**

This mission has been classified **MEDIUM RISK**. The agent is reminded of his right to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time.

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**A/N -** I know its short but there's a reason I made it short. I find it really boring reading briefings...but I thought a mission would be a mission without a mission briefing. So if you are going to review...please don't say its short, because I've just told you why it is!! Hope you are enjoying reading my story...thanx xxx


	3. Bedroom

James softly shut the door behind him, as he stepped into the middle of Jenny's room. He slipped his mobile out of his pocket and typed in a series of numbers which opened up a hidden CHERUB section on the screen. He tapped on an icon and stared at the screen for a few seconds.

It showed the signal strengths of all the listening devices he had hidden in the room 2 months earlier. 3 of them displayed a full green bar, indicating they were working fine. But one was down in the red zone.

"There's always one," James tutted as he figured out which device had been damaged.

It turned out to be the one stuck under Jenny's desk. He scooted over, reached under the desk and pulled the device off a metal screw he had attached it to. He was surprised to find it in pieces. He put the broken device into his jean pocket and popped another out of its casing.

James was pressing it under the desk as he heard noises outside the bedroom door. Jenny was back! His mind raced as the handle turned and the door was pushed open slowly.

"Oh…Heya James. Question. Why are you in my room?" Jenny asked, totally confused.

At the door, a medium height, brunette girl with deep hazel eyes stared at him. Jenny. James had met her when he first moved to BCC and they had become really good friends since then. Sometimes, he even thought he had feelings for her, but that was a stupid idea, because he had bigger feelings for Dana back at campus…didn't he?

"I….err…" James stuttered, his palms starting to sweat. His eyes shot around the room before coming to a halt at the desk. His gaze fell upon the stack of books.  
"I needed to borrow your maths book. I'm stuck on the homework. Is that OK?" This was a complete lie. James' best subject was maths.

Jenny stared at him suspiciously, "Yeah, whatever." She turned to walk out the room, but stopped after a few steps.  
"I thought you were good at maths?"

"Err…Yeah, well…But…I just kinda don't get Trigonometry," James replied, smiling weakly.

"Hmmm."

James picked up Jenny's maths book and started towards the door.

"Wait James. I've got something for you," Jenny interrupted as she stepped into his path. James did as he was told and followed her as she walked across the room…towards her underwear draw!?

Thoughts flashed through James' mind. OK. She wants to give me something, but she's rooting through her underwear draw. Underwear draw? What's that all about? It could be somewhere secret she hides stuff? Oh my god! Maybe she's gonna give me a piece of her underwe…

"Found it!" Jenny exclaimed. She pulled a small piece of material out of the draw and spun around to meet James' eyes.

James stared at her blankly as his mind started to slow down.

"Close your eyes stupid!" Jenny laughed.

"Oh…Yeah right," he said as he closed his eyes. He felt Jenny pressed the small piece of material into his open hands and then close them afterwards.

"OK…open them."

James slowly peeked open his eyes and looked down into his hands. His eyes shot up to see Jenny's face, a broad grin spread across it.

"Well…?" she enquired.

James slowly slid open his cupped hands to reveal…

"A friendship bracelet."

"Yeah. It took me ages to make. You like it?"

"Wow. Thanks Jenny!" he replied as he slipped it over his fist. He couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed though. I mean out of all the things in an underwear draw, he gets a friendship bracelet.

"I love it. You're a real star Jen," he said as he pulled her into a tight hug.

Jenny rested her head on James shoulder as she rapped her arms round his back. "Hey…your worth it," she giggled.

James slowly let go of her reluctantly and stood back. They stared deeply into each other's eyes for a moment. He had to admit it, Jenny was beautiful. Her skin was so soft and her hair was perfect. She was perfect. But that's when Jenny's gaze slipped. She glanced over to her bedroom door and then back to James.

"What?" he asked.

"I need to tell you something. But I don't want anyone else knowing."

"Um…OK. What is it?"

"Oh my god. Boys totally miss everything. Don't you have a clue at all?" Jenny cried out, as she stepped over to her bed.

James was completely taken-aback by her outburst and wore a look of utter puzzlement.  
"Tell us," he said as he sat down next to her. He picked her hand up and held it to show that he was there for her. "You can trust me."

"Please don't laugh…and if you tell anyone else, I'll know and I'll kill you!" Jenny smiled.

James nodded to show he agreed. Whatever Jenny had to tell him, it must be super serious. He'd known Jenny for 3 months, and they had got on really well together, and during that time, she had never been so serious about anything like she was being now.

"OK. Come on Jen, you can do this," she urged herself.

James stroked her hand softly to try and comfort her.

Jenny gazed into his eyes and whispered something. Something James couldn't quite hear.

"Sorry…what?"

"I love you…" 


	4. Cubicles

**Cubicles**

James' mind started to race. She loves me? What!? That's when he noticed that he was still holding Jenny's hand. He softly pulled it out of her clutch, and Jenny's smile faltered.

"What's wrong?" she enquired, "Didn't you hear what I just said to you?"

James didn't know where to look, so he chanced a glance at Jenny's face. Her eyes were starting to brim with tears.

"Don't you feel the same way?" Jenny pleaded, a little desperately now, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I…er…I…don't really…know," James managed to stutter. She loves me. Hmm. Do I love her? Of course not. But didn't I feel some feelings for her before. No. Oh God. Yes I did. But my love for Dana is stronger than this. But I'm not with Dana now so how do I know that for sure?

James carried on arguing with himself in his head, but snapped out of it as Jenny got up, walked out of her room and towards the girl's toilets. Her fists were rubbing her eyes and her sobbing sounded distant, but James knew that if he had upset Jenny he had to sort it out. It was for the sake of the mission.

He darted after her, but just as he reached her, she ran into the toilets and slammed the door in his face.

"Ah, shi…"

"I do not want to here that language in my building. Thank you Mr. Adams," Karen McCloud walked by him, and up the corridor.

James cupped his hands over his nose. The door had swung into it and had made it go very red.

Still with one hand over his nose, James peered down the corridor each way, and slipped into the girl's toilets and bolted the door behind him.

"Jen?" he called as he walked over to the mirror to check his nose. No one replied, but he could hear faint sobs coming from inside the end cubicle. He ran his hands through his hair, sighed, then moved over towards the cubicle.

Knock, knock.

"Jen, are you in there?" he whispered, holding the handle of the door.

"Go away. I don't want to talk to you any more."

"Jen, let me in."

Nothing happened, so James decided to try a different approach.

"Look, I'm sorry that I hurt you, and I think that its really cool that you actually trust me enough to tell me that you…love…me. And I'm flattered, I really am. And I have great respect for you, you know that. You were the only one to be kind to me when I arrived here, and I love you for that. But I never really thought that we would be anything other than friends. Do you get me? And…well…I think your really pretty…perfect in fact…but…"

There as a loud click that echoed around the room as the toilet door swung open. Jenny was sat on the toilet seat, with tear stained cheeks. James couldn't finish off his last sentence, he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Jenny's eyes connected with James' again, and they just stayed there, staring at each other for what seemed like hours.

Jenny was first to break the silence.

"You think I'm perfect?" she was smiling now. James laughed. He still was lost for words, so he just shrugged.

Jenny stood up and moved towards James, so that their noses were inches apart.

"I think we would be good together, you know." She flicked his nose, the one she had hit with the door.

James jumped back in pain, so he was next to the sinks, putting his hands over his nose again.

"You damn wuss!" Jenny laughed, as James explained the incident with the door.

"Why don't you love me?" she said, getting serious again.

"I don't know. But I never actually said that. I just said I had never thought of us as a couple, it seems a weird thing to do." James replied.

"I bet it's just because you don't have much kissing experience," Jenny sneered playfully.

"Hmm, yeah. That might be it," James was trying not to smile at this. He couldn't actually remember how many times he had snogged someone in the last year.

"I could teach you." Jenny was moving slowly closer now. This was the last thing James wanted. He didn't want to lead Jenny on, it wouldn't be fair after what she had been through. And Dana would probably kick him to Mars if she found he had cheated on her.

But by now, Jenny was so close, he could feel her minty breathe on his face.

"Maybe not," James muttered, but an urge was taking over him.

Jenny laughed, James smiled, as their lips were centimeters apart.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Why the hell is this door locked?!"

"Oh well," James breathed, slightly relieved.

"Quick, hide!" Jenny giggled, as she went over to unlock the toilet door, and James dived into the nearest cubilcle.

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Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and stuff, and im really sorry i took so long to update! Been busy with stuff so. Anyway, because quite a lot of you had been reviewing, i decided to write the next chapter for you all. I hope you enjoy it, and ill try not to leave it so long until my next update. Keep reviewing! Thanks D


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